Bumgarner Flirts With No-No As Giants Nail Down Sweep

Despite the fact that Madison Bumgarner will not pitch in the 2016 All-Star Game, in San Diego, Bumgarner more than showed why he is a National League All-Star. Bumgarner took the mound Sunday night as the San Francisco Giants looked for the sweep of the Arizona Diamond Backs. Early on it was clear that the Bumgarner-Posey battery was clicking.

In the first inning, Bumgarner retired the side 1-2-3, with two of the three outs coming via the strikeout. The Giants backed Bumgarner almost immediately; as in the bottom of the first, with runners on second and third, Buster Posey slashed an RBI single to right field. The Giants would go on to add three more runs on ten more hits, but one run would prove to be more than enough as Bumgarner’s first inning was the norm rather than the exception. He cut through the Arizona lineup like butter as he retired the side in order until- with two outs in the fifth inning- Giants right fielder, Gregor Blanco, would lose a fly ball in the sun, resulting in an error. That put an end to the perfect game bid; however, the no-hitter survived. Bumgarner would continue to pitch his heart out until, with one out in the eighth, Jake Lamb, singled on a Bumgarner curveball. Mad Bum would not lose his focus, however, as the next play was a groundball double play to second base. In the end, Bumgarner threw a complete game, one-hit shutout, on a season high 117 pitches.

With the win the Giants improve to a Major League best, 57 and 33 on the year and complete the sweep of the D-Backs. The Giants will look to win their fifth in a row following the All-Star break. Game time is schedule for Friday, July 15th at 7:40PM PT against the Padres at Petco Park.

Behind The Numbers:

With the victory Bumgarner moves his record to 10 and 4. In 9 innings of work, the Giants ace culminated 14 strikeouts, 9 of which came on the curveball. The 14 K’s matches a career high for Bumgarner. In this his last start before the All-Star break, Madison drops his ERA to a spectacular 1.94. Bumgarner now has 6 shutouts in his career. Four of the six are one hit shutouts.

This week we break down some of the exciting match-ups from last weekend. The “Classic” played between Pleasant Valley and Valley Christian. The thriller at Harrison between Paradise and Encinal. And, we look at wins by Foothill, Anderson and West Valley.

We also preview one of the more competitive weekends in years in high school football with Shasta hosting West Valley, Lassen at Foothill, Red Bluff at Orland, Colusa at Durham, Maxwell and Fall River and two (3-0) teams going at it in Willows and Williams

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The Biggs Wolverines were ready to celebrate. With 6:04 remaining they had just completed a 9-minute drive to grab a 21-7 lead over the defending Division V champion Fall River Bulldogs.

But the heart of a champion should never be underestimated. The Bulldogs would drive 60 yards in 2:55 seconds to cut the deficit to 21-14. Then, after recovering an on-side kick the Bulldogs were trying to pull off one of the great comebacks in North Section Championship history. With no timeouts the Bulldogs had a 1st and goal from the Biggs 7 yard line. After a couple of runs nudged the ball to the 3, Fall River’s chances looked to be dim after a fumbled snap. What would follow would be some of the most dramatic North Section Championship football in years.

Check out the video below as we provide the play-by-play as heard right here on KpaySports.com and the KpaySports app……